NHL Roundup: Kings win in OT, advance to finals

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dustin Penner, a former UMaine player, scored 17:42 into overtime and the Los Angeles Kings are headed to the Stanley Cup finals for the second time as a franchise after beating the Phoenix Coyotes 4-3 in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals Tuesday night.

Penner gathered a bouncing puck and beat Mike Smith between the pads for the winner, extending the Kings’ road winning streak to an NHL-record eight straight games.

Anze Kopitar scored a shorthanded goal, Drew Doughty had a goal and an assist, and Mike Richards also scored for Los Angeles.

The first team to go undefeated on the road to the Stanley Cup finals, the Kings will face the Devils or Rangers in the final round.

RANGERS-DEVILS: Practice for the New York Rangers went from optional to mandatory. Their attitude shifted from agitated to optimistic.

For the third straight series, the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded team is all even through four games, and each time New York has headed into Game 5 off the disappointment of a loss that would have given the Rangers a commanding 3-1 edge.

The negative view would be that they can’t handle prosperity. The positive outlook is that the Rangers have a knack of bouncing back. After all, they advanced from this spot in the opening two rounds with Game 7 victories in the comfort of Madison Square Garden.

The task at hand against the rival New Jersey Devils in the conference finals is difficult, yet satisfyingly familiar. The Rangers have lost three straight Game 2s after series-opening wins and all three Game 4s following Game 3 victories. They have won two in a row only once in 18 playoff games and have just one two-game losing streak in the postseason.

“I guess it’s a positive. We’re used to this situation,” Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said Tuesday after practice. “It’s something we’ve been through. We know how to prepare for it and we’ll be ready.”

New York, which will host Game 5 tonight, is now in a best-of-three series with two of the games at home if it goes the distance again.

With whistle in hand, and instructions bellowing across the ice, Rangers Coach John Tortorella ran a 40-minute practice that was originally scheduled to be optional. That changed after a 4-1 defeat on Monday in Game 4 in New Jersey.

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